Air Zoo opens new exhibit

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The Air Zoo has added a new art exhibit to its list of exhibits and experiences included in the museum’s free general admission. “The Spirit of Flight: The History of Aviation through Art” chronicles the history of aircraft and aircraft carriers from their earliest beginnings through today’s modern airplanes.

The exhibit, located in the Main Campus’s Traveling Exhibit Hall, and donated in part by Dr. James C. Lathrop of Saginaw, Michigan, features more than 50 framed prints and posters, most of which are signed by the plane’s pilot or crew. It also includes three full-size aircraft cockpit trainers that visitors can climb into and explore. Tom Austin Jr. of San Angelo, Texas, donated a T-28 procedural trainer—painted exactly like the museum’s T-28 Trojan—and two F-16 cockpit trainers are on loan from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. A restored Link Trainer is featured as well, courtesy of a donation from Alpha Eta Rho, Western Michigan University’s aviation fraternity.

Dr. Arnold Herskovic of Arlington Heights, Illinois, donated three large models of U.S. Navy warships. These include a 9-1/2-foot-long model of the USS Wisconsin, an 8-foot model of the USS Nimitz and a 6-foot model of the USS Arleigh Burke.

The exhibit also includes a display funded by the Good family about Drs. Walter and William Good, two brothers who grew up in Kalamazoo and developed the first successful radio-controlled model airplane, The Guff.